Too Close To Home
by The Minx
Summary: Grissom and Det. Brass witness a crime first hand as they're put in the line of fire.


Too Close To Home  
  
CSI  
  
After a long shift at work, Gil Grissom was finally ready to leave. Looking at his watch he noticed it was 7am. He passed Nick on his way out. "Hey, we don't pay you for over time around here. Get some rest." He waved goodbye to Catherine and Sara who were still working in the lab and he considered what his next 16 hours was going to hold. As he was walking out to his car he took in a deep breath of the fresh morning air. Then he noticed Det. Jim Brass waiting for him. Grissom smiled as he approached Jim. Without a word they jumped into Grissom's car. After he started the ignition and put the car in reverse, Grissom finally asked, "So, where are we going?" "I don't know." Jim thought for a minute and then continued, "How about that place up on Cane Street. I hear they serve a mean omelet." Grissom smiled and agreed.  
  
Five minutes later they were pulling into the parking lot of Denny's. Every week they went to Denny's and every week they would order the same thing. Grissom always ordered over-easy eggs, toast and hash browns, and Jim usually had the veggie omelet with sausage. Together, Grissom and Jim Brass could drink two pots of coffee. They would usually stay only an hour because the conversation would run a little thin after that. Turning the car off, the two men stepped out of the car, looked at the scenery and then at each other. Then they made their way to the entrance. Jim reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. Stopping, he turned to Grissom and said, "I'm a little low on cash." Grissom looked at him skeptically, but then replied, "Don't worry about it. You can pay next week." Jim was thankful for Grissom's offer, but decided to cross the street to the bank and make a withdrawal. Grissom decided to join him. They made their way across the busy four-lane street, and Grissom couldn't help but comment. "You realize we just committed a crime." "We did?" "Jay walking." Grissom replied. Jim merely smiled and opened the door to the bank. Inside, they were both surprised to be greeted, not by pretty clerks, but by a masked man. "Get down. Down on the ground. DO IT!" One masked man hollered and waved a gun in their faces. Reluctantly the two got to their knees and then proceeded to lie on their bellies. Grissom looked around and noticed the robber was not alone. Two other armed suspects were behind the counter already stuffing money into paper bags. The three men were all wearing black attire, complete with facemasks. They all seemed to be on edge, as if they had never done this before. Det. Jim Brass took this opportunity to reach into his pocket and grab his cell phone. From inside the pocket he turned the phone on and pressed a button he hoped was the speed dial to his department. He heard a faint dial, then what sounded like someone answering. Jim then began to loudly question the robbers. "Why are you doing this? Do you realize what could happen to you if you're caught robbing a bank?" Jim asked forcefully. Grissom was waiting for the robber to lose his temper and react, but they never did. Not one of the assailants answered the Detective's question. Jim Brass continued his questioning, this time turning the question to the victims of the robbery. "Did you hurt anyone? Is everyone here okay? Where's Grace Young?" "I'm here." Jim heard her voice from the corner of the room. "Is everyone okay?" Jim asked her. "Yes." "Shut the hell up before a put a bullet in your brain." One of the robbers finally responded. Grissom then joined in. "If you kill anyone the cops will never stop looking for you. No matter how good you think you are, one day they will find you." The assailant didn't reply to Grissom, but instead turned to his aides and told them to hurry up. They weren't just robbing the bank. They were robbing everyone in the room as well. Forcing the men to forfeit their wallets and the women to give them their purses. Then they made their way to Jim and Grissom. They opened Grissom's wallet, took the money and then tossed it back on the ground beside them. "Wow, there must be four hundred dollars here. You must be a very wealthy man." "No, just prepared." Grissom replied. "For what?" When Grissom didn't respond, the bandit merely laughed. Then he continued and opened Jim Brass's wallet and immediately noticed the badge. "Oh shit man! He's a cop!" One masked man said to another. Then the robbers got jumpy when they heard sirens in the distance. Grissom and Jim gave a quick glance at each other and then noticed how the robbers were standing motionless. "Talk about perfect timing." Jim mentioned quietly. The bandits got really nervous when they realized the sirens were getting close. They took off for the back of the bank and were half way out the door when they noticed a cop car pulling into the lot with its lights flashing. They quickly jumped back into the building and locked the door. Then they bolted towards the front entrance and realized they were surrounded. One of the masked men, who seemed to be leading the group, reached for the nearest female and forced her to stand up and go to the door. They made it clear to the cops outside that they had hostages and that they intended to use that to their advantage. It didn't stop the cops from setting up a perimeter around the building though. The officer in charge of the scene from outside also told a group of his men to get to higher ground where they might have a clearer shot at the robbers. Inside, Jim pulled out his cell phone and turned it off. He held it up to one of the robbers and said, "Here, you can use my phone to call a lawyer. You're going to need one." The assailant didn't like that comment, but snatched the phone from him anyway. Then the three masked men grouped up away from the windows and doors. They decided their masks were not useful anymore and took them off. They talked loud enough that Grissom and Jim Brass heard every word. "We should just surrender. I've seen enough movies to know that guys like us that take hostages are going to die. I'm too young to die Peter." Said one man who looked to be in his early twenties. He had sandy blonde hair and blue eyes. Jim Brass thought he recognized the one they called Peter, who stood at almost six feet tall, dark hair and brown eyes. Jim searched through his more recent arrests, but soon realized he'd have to go back a lot farther to pinpoint where he'd seen the young man. Just before the one named Peter could speak his mind, the cell phone in his hand began to ring. It rang six times before Peter decided to finally answer it. He put it to his ear but didn't say a word. The officer on the other end began by asking him if he had any demands. Peter continued to stand in silence, but the expression on his face expressed anger. Peter walked over to Grissom and handed him the phone. "Talk. Say anything wrong and you won't have to worry about ever speaking again." Peter said silently but forcefully. Grissom took the phone, but before he would talk to the guy on the other end, he stood eye level with the enemy in front of him. "Hello." The officer on the other end introduced himself as Detective Reynolds. Then he asked yes or no questions, starting with, "Is everyone okay?" "Yes. No one's been hurt." "Who am I talking to?" the officer asked. "Gil Grissom." "With the Crime Scene Investigators team?" "That's the one." Grissom replied. "How many hostages are in the building?" Grissom looked around the room and replied, "About fifteen." The officer continued, "How many armed assailants are there? One?" Silence. "Two?" Silence. "Three." "Yeah, sure." Grissom finally replied trying to throw the bandits off of the real discussion. Then Grissom turned to Peter and asked, "They're asking you to release some of the hostages to show good faith." Peter thought about it for a minute, and then said, "One. I'll let one go." Grissom told the Detective on the phone that they were going to send one of the hostages go. Peter then took the phone from Grissom and turned it off. The three looked around the room and all three decided to let the youngest female leave. She looked to be only 14 years old, with brown curly hair, braces, and baby blue eyes. "Stand up!" They took her by force and led her to the front door. The girl was frightened, but said nothing. She opened the door and walked slowly to the men waiting for her twenty feet away. When she reached them she started to cry but was quickly swooped up into the arms of an officer. He continued to carry her until she was safely away from the line of fire. Detective Reynolds instructed his men that there was only three armed men in the building, and about fifteen hostages. Then he dialed a familiar number and waited patiently while the phone rang. "CSI, Brown." Warrick Brown answered with half a yawn. He was just preparing to leave for the day when the phone rang. "This is Detective Reynolds of the NVPD. We have a situation down town at the Oak Ridge Bank that requires your attention." "Okay, I'll assign Katherine Birchen to-" "I'm afraid I need you to call up the night crew. This one is closer to home with you guys." Warrick was getting angry, "What's this about?" "Det. Jim Brass, Gil Grissom and about fifteen others are being held hostage." As Reynolds continued, Warrick noticed Nick passing by. Warrick got Nick's attention and told him to round up the team. "Grissom's in trouble."  
  
As the late shift crew all arrived to the already hectic scene at the Oak Ridge Bank, they were all wondering how Grissom was handling this. From inside the bank, Jim and Grissom were now comfortably leaning up against the wall and trying to stay away. The standoff had already lasted more than an hour. Grissom even managed a smile when he heard Jim's stomach growling. It was a little too quiet in the bank. There hadn't been a word spoken since Reynolds called back wanting to know the demands forty minutes ago. Finally Grissom stood up, stretched out and walked slowly over to Peter. "What do you want?" Peter asked harshly. "I was just wondering how long you were going to stretch this thing. The longer you wait, the quicker the cops outside are going to come up with a plan to force you out." "I'm sorry if this is an inconvenience to your plans, but we're talking about the rest of our lives here." Grissom looked outside at the hundreds of cops in position. "There's only two ways you're getting out of this building. One is in a body bad. Think about it." Grissom commented and then went back to his seat against the wall. Peter thought carefully about what Grissom had just told him. Then he looked at his fellow coworkers, who looked terrified of dying. He didn't want to die either. Therefore, he made up his mind. They would surrender. But how do they walk outside and not get their heads blown off, he pondered. Peter could only think of one possibility. He walked over to Jim Brass and told him to stand up. "What for?" Jim asked. "You're leaving." "I am." "You're going to tell them that we plan to surrender." Peter said while looking at Grissom. Jim stood and did as Peter told. He walked to the front door with his arms up in the air, and then proceeded outside. Detective Reynolds recognized Jim and ordered everyone to hold their fire.  
  
When Jim was close enough he told Reynolds what the robber's intentions were. Jim suggested that they lower their weapons, but Reynolds hesitated. There was no way they were going to put their weapons aside when the robbers were still armed, at least to their knowledge. Reynolds asked his men instead to hold their guns in ready positions. Then he got out his cell phone and dialed up Brass's number. Inside, the cell phone rang. Peter tossed it to Grissom. While he answered the phone he watched as the three young men set their weapons on the counter, and one at a time started heading for the door. Peter was first. He wanted to make sure it was safe before he let the others follow him. Grissom instructed Reynolds that they had set their weapons down and were coming outside. Peter went out the door and kept his hands in the air the entire time. He made it close enough that Reynolds himself went to him and told him to lie on the ground with his hands over his head. Peter did so and Reynolds searched him and then cuffed him. He then helped Peter to his feet and passed him over to another officer who walked him to a nearby patrol car. The second man to leave the building also kept his hands where the cops could see them, and he walked slowly towards them. From inside the building, the third man was shaking so badly of fear that he had to sit down. He watched, as his friend was half way there. Grissom looked around the room at the hostages who were also nervous. Then he saw on guy in a fancy suit reach for one of the guns. Grissom yelled, "Look out." And everyone hit the deck. From outside the gunshot was heard and the cops went immediately into action. Reynolds couldn't have stopped what happened next. There were so many cops and half of them didn't know where the gunshot originated. One officer opened fire, and then another. The young man who had made it half way to custody went down in a spray of gunfire. Peter cried as he watched his friend crumble to the cement ground. Catherine, Nick, Sara, Warrick and Jim were all wondering what had happened inside the bank. Who had been shot? They heard only a single fire, but one bullet is all that is needed to end a life. They grew concerned that it was Grissom who had been shot. That he could be lying on the floor bleeding to death at that very second.  
  
When the officers had seized fire, Reynolds ordered them to hold back. He alone ran towards the bank and went inside. The seconds that followed were the most nerve racking. Sara felt tears already forming in her eyes, and she got little comfort when Warrick put his hands on her shoulders. Catherine felt a shiver run up her spine and she nearly broke out into tears when she saw Reynolds reappear. He held open the door allowing the first of the hostages out into the world. Mostly women and younger men stepped out from the bank. For every new face they saw, the CSI team felt their hearts skip a beat. Jim Brass started to walk towards the entrance, followed closely by Catherine and Nick. The last one to come out was Grissom. He had blood on his shirt. Sara covered her mouth with her hand but managed to mutter out, "Oh my God."  
  
There was an eerie silence until Jim finally asked Grissom, "What happened?" Grissom didn't respond, but turned back around and watched as Det. Reynolds cuffed the man in the business suit. "Retaliation." Grissom finally spoke. That was all they needed to put the scene together. The hostage in the suit got antsy. He some how managed to get one of the weapons and fired it. Nick asked Grissom if he was hit, but Grissom simply replied, "It's not my blood." Grissom felt very uncomfortable from the looks he was getting from his co-workers. He knew right away that they were about him. He would feel the same way had it been one of them in that building instead of him. Jim looked at the chaos around them. Then he looked at the CSI team and realized they seemed a lot more relaxed than what was happening around them. "Come on. I'll buy you all a round of coffee." Jim said and led them back across the street to Denny's. 


End file.
